Method and apparatus for awarding a bonus on a network of electronic gaming devices during a pre-determined time period

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the invention provide a time-based bonus system that can be pre-configured to award a certain amount of money to players of networked gaming devices over a certain time period. The time-based bonus system may include a variety of networked gaming devices and a method of arranging participation so that each of the variety of gaming devices has appropriate representation in the bonus pool. The amount of bonus money in a bonus pool is pre-determined by a casino or other gaming network operator. Additionally, the total amount of bonus money in a particular bonus pool can be divided into multiple smaller bonuses, which can be distributed to many players over the time period in which the bonus pool is operating.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of prior application Ser. No.10/189,041, filed Jul. 2, 2002, which claims priority from provisionalapplication Ser. No. 60/303,107, filed Jul. 2, 2001, the contents ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to networked gaming devices, and, morespecifically, to a system for providing bonuses for networked gamingdevices independent of winning pay tables of the devices themselves.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Gaming devices provide an opportunity for a user to play a variety ofpopular games on the machines, such as slot-type games, videoadaptations of standard card games such as poker and blackjack, and manyother types of games. Modern gaming devices are able to forward eventsthat occur on the gaming devices over a computer network to a centralsystem host or master controller. Examples of such events include coinsor other value being entered into the machine, button selections andother actions made by the player, and an amount that the machine creditsor pays out to the player as winnings. When the gaming machines areproperly equipped, the central system can also control at least someportions of the gaming devices.

Another system that can be controlled by the central system, or aprocess coupled to the central system, is a bonus system for the gamingdevices, and specifically a bonus system that is above and beyond thestandard winning pay tables for the gaming devices.

Because there are times in a casino when gaming devices are not used asmuch as others, in an effort to make players more willing to play thegames in slow times, it is desirable to be able to modify the effectivepayback of the gaming devices. Specifically, bonus systems are knownthat pay awards above and beyond what the gaming devices pay accordingto their own standard winning pay tables. Because the bonuses are addedto the standard winnings from a gaming device, the players effectivelyhave a higher chance of winning more money than when the additionalbonuses are not paid. Therefore, more players are enticed to play atcasinos having gaming devices coupled to a gaming network that generatesthe additional bonuses than at casinos that do not use such bonusingsystems.

A typical way to administer paying an additional bonus is to accumulatea bonus pool each time one of the participating gaming devices isplayed. Once the minimum bonus pool level is reached, it isdistributed—either to the gaming device machine that caused the minimumpool level to be reached, or to another active gaming device. U.S. Pat.No. 6,375,569B2, the teachings of which are specifically incorporatedherein in their entirety, teaches such bonusing methods. However,because the bonus levels and overall time period in which bonuses can bepaid is dependent on how many gaming devices are participating in thebonus pool, and dependent on the rate of usage of such devices, a casinocan have difficulty in clearly explaining to its patrons the actualbenefit conferred on them by participating in their bonusing system.

Because casinos are interested in providing a full range of gamingexperiences to players, it is also desirable for a casino to be able tooffer such bonusing methods over a variety of gaming platforms. However,by providing a bonus with a centralized pool that is available to avariety of gaming platforms, a casino must also consider contributionschemes that fairly associate bonus payouts with the share of moneycontributed by each of the variety of machines.

Embodiments of the invention address these and other deficiencies in theprior art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The description may be best understood by reading the disclosure withreference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a computer gaming network on whichembodiments of the invention operate.

FIG. 2 is an example flow diagram illustrating processes that can beused to set up a particular bonus system.

FIG. 3 is a chart showing a payout table of an example bonus pool.

FIG. 4 is an example flow diagram illustrating processes that can beused to implement a particular bonus pool.

FIGS. 5A, 5B, 5C, and 5D are charts showing winning timeslots selectedout of potential winning timeslots.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the invention provide a time-based bonus system that canbe pre-configured to award a certain amount of money to players ofnetworked gaming devices over a certain time period. A bonus systemincludes a number of individual bonus pools, each of which can run for agiven duration at a particular time on Electronic Gaming Machines(EGMs). The amount of bonus money in a bonus pool is pre-determined by acasino or other gaming network operator. Additionally, the total amountof bonus money in a particular bonus pool can be divided into multiplesmaller bonuses, which can be distributed to many players over the timeperiod in which the bonus pool is operating.

The time-based bonus system allows a casino to specify in great detailfor each bonus period: the total amount of a bonus, the ways in whichthe bonus is divided if the bonus is divided, the duration of the bonusperiod, when within the bonus period the payouts will be made, whichgaming devices that are coupled to the gaming network are eligible toparticipate in the bonus payouts, how the bonus payouts are to be made,and how to signal to casino patrons that a bonus payout has been made,among other details. Further, the casino can schedule when and how oftena particular bonus pool period will occur. For instance the casino mayschedule a bonus pool to operate every other hour of each weekday. Evenfurther, the casino may configure multiple types of bonus pools, eachdiffering in any of the variables listed above, and schedule them inadvance for different times of the day, week, and month, and for specialholidays or promotions.

The bonus system according to embodiments of the invention operates on agaming computer network. An example modern gaming network is shown inFIG. 1. FIG. 1 is identical to FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,245,483B1,assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the teachings ofwhich are incorporated herein in their entirety. In FIG. 1, indicatedgenerally at 10 is a block diagram illustrating electronic gamingmachines (EGMs), like EGMs 12, 14, which are interconnected by acomputer network. Shown in the gaming network 10 are three banks ofEGMs, indicated generally at 16, 18, and 20. Each separate EGM isconnected via a network connection, like connection 22, to a bankcontroller 24. In embodiments of the invention, each bank controller 24includes a processor that facilitates data communication between theEGMs in its associated bank and the other components on the network. Thebank controller 24 also includes audio capabilities, like a CD or DVDROM drive coupled to an audio board or sound card for transmittingdigitized sound effects, such as music and the like, to a speaker 26responsive to commands issued over the network 10 to bank controller.The bank controller 24 is also connected to an electronic sign or screen28 that displays information, such as scrolling, flashing, or othertypes of messages that indicate jackpot amounts and the like, which arevisible to players of machines on bank 16. These message displays 28 aregenerated and changed responsive to commands issued over the network 10to the bank controller 24. Each of the other banks 18, 20 of EGMsinclude associated bank controllers, speakers, and signs as shown, whichoperate in substantially the same manner.

The EGMs may include traditional spinning reel slot machines, videopoker machines, computer based video slot machines, and similar gamingdevices known in the art. The EGMs may further be terminal basedmachines, where the actual games including random number generation andoutcome determination is performed at a remote gaming server 48. In thisembodiment, the EGM terminal may display the results of the game playedon the gaming server and include hardware to accept a wager in the formof cash, cashless tickets, or other methods of providing a wager.

In addition, a variety of other gaming platforms may be connected to thegaming network 10 so as to participate in network wide bonus systems. Asshown in FIG. 1, these types of alternate gaming platforms may includewireless devices 52 and mobile phones 54, which connect to the gamingnetwork 10 via a wireless receiving hub 50. The wireless devices 52 mayinclude portable terminals loaned out to guests by the casino for use inother areas of the casino, such as a hotel room, a restaurant, anentertainment venue, or the like. The wireless devices 52 may alsoinclude portable devices such as laptops or PDAs that can communicatedirectly with the wireless receiving hub 50. With wireless devices 52and cell phones 54, the games themselves may be played on the gamingserver 48 to comply with local gaming laws, while the wireless devices52 or cell phones 54 may act as terminals where a player can observe theoutcome of particular game, place wagers, and interact with the basegame or bonus features.

The gaming network 10 may also be connected to the internet through acommunication hub 60, and thus allow remote devices 62 to participate innetwork wide system bonuses. By allowing remote devices 62 toparticipate in a bonus pool, a casino may be able to offer substantiallylarger awards because of the increased contribution from machines thatare not on site. These remote devices 62 may include other gamingmachines located outside of the casino property or may include offsitecomputers. In addition, the remote devices 62 may further act asterminal gaming machines, with the actual play of the games controlledby the gaming server 48, which may be located in the casino. A casinomay also connect smart gaming tables 76 to the gaming network 10. Smartgaming tables are disclosed in commonly owned application Ser. No.11/154,833, which is herein incorporated by reference. Smart gamingtables 76 may include traditional gaming tables, such as blackjack,roulette, craps, poker, and others each outfitted with hardware toenable players to use a player tracking card during play, and enable thecasino to keep track of player betting patterns and frequency of play.The outfitted hardware may include a chip recognition system forrecognizing a player identifying chip that may be embedded in a devicecarried by a player, such as a player tracking card, a credit card, acell phone, or any other type of identifying device. The smart gamingtables 76 may be organized type or physical location, where each ofthese smart gaming tables 76 in a particular organizational group 74 isconnected to table controller 72. The table controller 72, in turn, maybe connected to an Ethernet hub 70 to communicate with the gamingnetwork 10.

Each of the gaming platforms mentioned above, including the wirelessdevices, the remote devices connected through the internet, and thesmart gaming tables may be referred to as an EGM for reference purposes.

A network connector, such as an Ethernet hub 30 connects each of thebank controllers associated with banks 16, 18, 20 of EGMs to aconcentrator 32. Another Ethernet hub 34 connects similar bankcontrollers (not shown), each associated with an additional bank of EGMs(also not shown), to the concentrator 32. The concentrator 32 functionsas a data control switch to route data from each of the banks to atranslator 36. The translator 36 includes a compatibility buffer betweenthe concentrator 32 and a proprietary accounting system 38. Thetranslator 36 functions to place all the data gathered from each of thebank controllers into a format compatible with an accounting system 38.The translator 36 could be implemented by a microcomputer including amicroprocessor and operating system, such as an Intel Pentiummicroprocessor running Microsoft Windows NT 4.0.

Another Ethernet hub 39 is connected to a configuration workstation 40,a player server 42, and to bonus servers 44, 46. Hub 39 facilitates dataflow to or from workstation 40 and servers 42, 44, 46.

The configuration workstation 40 has a user interface that allowsportions of the network 10 and the servers 42, 44, 46 to be set up andmodified. The configuration workstation 40 could include a personalcomputer having a keyboard, monitor, microprocessor, memory, anoperating system, and a network card coupled to the Ethernet hub 39.

The player server 42 includes a microcomputer that is used to track dataof players using the EGMs. Another function of the player server 42 isto control messages that appear on displays associated with each EGM.The player server 42 may be embodied in a microcomputer including, forinstance an Intel Pentium Processor, Microsoft operating system and anetwork card to couple the server to the Ethernet hub 39.

Bonus servers 44, 46 each are embodied by a microcomputer and are usedto control bonus applications or bonus systems on the gaming network 10.Each bonus system includes a set of rules for awarding jackpots inexcess of those established by the winning pay tables of each EGM. Somebonus awards may be made randomly, while others may be made to link togroups of EGMs operating in a progressive jackpot mode. Examples of suchbonuses and networks used to implement them include those as describedin U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,319,125 and 5,655,961, both of which are assigned tothe assignee of the present invention, and the teachings of both ofwhich are incorporated herein in their entirety for all purposes.

FIG. 2 is an example flow diagram showing processes that can be used toconfigure elements of the bonus system for implementation on the gamingnetwork 10 of FIG. 1. The processes could be implemented anyplace withinthe gaming network 10. In some embodiments the processes shown in FIG. 2are implemented by computer programs operating on the configurationworkstation 40 of FIG. 1.

As mentioned above, a bonus system includes one or more bonus pools.Generally, in embodiments of the invention, a bonus pool is oneparticular instance of a bonusing process that has a pre-set sum ofmoney to be paid over a pre-set duration that the pool is operating. Thecollection of bonus pools, and the implementation of operating theseparate bonus pools makes up the entire bonusing system.

A flow 100 begins in a process 110 by a user being authenticated toaccess the bonus system setup. Such a process could be, for example, alogon function of a computer program operating on the configurationworkstation 40. Once authenticated, in a process 120 the user selectswhich bonus server 44, 46 will run the bonus system. As mentioned above,there can be several separate bonus servers operating on a single gamingnetwork 10. Process 120 determines which of the bonus servers 44, 46will be implementing the particular bonus pools set up in the flow 100.

The user authenticated in process 110 creates an individual bonus poolin a process 130 by providing a name for the pool, determining how muchmoney will be in the pool, and specifying how many different bonusawards (if more than one) will be part of the bonus pool. Naming thebonus pool allows the user to easily identify individual bonus poolswithin the bonus system. Details of defining the bonus pool arediscussed with reference to FIG. 3 below.

Next, in a process 140 the user determines which EGMs will participatein the bonus pool. With reference to FIG. 1, a bonus pool may includeevery EGM coupled to the gaming network 10, or could include only EGMsin a single bank 16, 18, 20. The user could even select only a few EGMslocated in one or more banks 16, 18, 20, or in some circumstances evenonly a single EGM. Generally, a casino will want to have many EGMsparticipating in a particular bonus pool so that many players areeligible for the bonus. In some embodiments, pre-defined groups canappear in a process window operating on the configuration server 40 foreasy selection. For instance, one group displayed may include all of theEGMs in one bank 16, 18, 20. Or, one group may include all of the EGMsin a particular location of a casino, no matter which bank the EGMsbelong to. Additionally, one group may include only EGMs that arecurrently being played by players using a player tracking card or otheridentifying device as discussed above, or may include only EGMs of agroup defined above that are currently being played by players using anidentifying device. If groups of EGMs are predefined, then the user needonly select one of the pre-defined groups to participate in the bonuspool, rather than individually selecting each of the EGMs participatingin the particular bonus pool.

Some embodiments of the bonusing system may be structured to allowcasino activity to be at least partly factored in when determiningeligible EGMs. For example, if a bonus is scheduled to activate at 6:00PM on a given day, current casino play levels could be used indetermining which EGMs are to be activated or even used to determinewhether or not to activate the bonus pool entirely at the scheduledtime. This may allow a casino to activate only certain gaming platformsor locations that may be being played at a slower rate when the bonuspool is scheduled to begin, or even to cancel the bonus pool entirely ifcasino activity reaches a desired level.

After selecting which EGMs are participating in the Bonus Pool inprocess 140, the system selects a participation arrangement in process145. A contribution process may be desirable so that machines or gamingplatforms of different denominations or played at different wageringlevels can fairly participate in the same bonus pool. Fair participationcan include having a contribution level of a particular machine beproportionate to the odds or amount of the bonus award. For example, ifa first player is playing all 20 lines of a 20 line nickel video slotmachine at one coin per line at a rate of about 5 games per minute and asecond player is playing $10.00 per hand at a smart black jack table ata rate of about 1 hand per minute, player one has a coin in rate ofabout $5.00 per minute while player two has a coin in rate of about$10.00 minute. From the perspective of the players, player two isrisking more money on average than player one. Thus, player two may feelunfairly represented in a cumulative bonus pool that the gamingplatforms of both players are participating in.

There are many ways to implement a bonus participation arrangement tocompensate for this discrepancy between the perceived inequality ofparticipation in a cumulative bonus pool. In some embodiments, aparticipation arrangement may structured so that players playingmachines at a lower coin in rate may have an increased contribution tothe bonus pool to compensate for the perceived discrepancy. Thus, in theabove example, the video slot machine played by player one may becontributing two cents to the bonus pool for every game played (that isten cents per minute) while the smart black jack table played by playertwo may be contributing five cents for every game played (that is fivecents per minute).

Another embodiment of the bonus participation arrangement includesincreasing the odds of receiving the bonus prize for gaming platformsthat are contributing more the bonus pool. This may be accomplished byhaving a weighted table of probabilities of each of the gaming platformsreceiving the bonus prize. In the above example, assuming that the videoslot machine played by player one and the smart blackjack table playedby player two are the only two EGMs selected to participate in the BonusPool in process 140, the weighted probability table may include threeslots. Two of the slots may then be assigned to the smart blackjacktable and one slot may be assigned to the video slot machine. The bonusserver 44 may then randomly select the slot to receive the award fromthe three-slot table. Thus, player two would have twice the chance ofreceiving the bonus award as player one, which is proportional to thecoin in rate of each player (i.e., player two is wagering twice theamount per minute as compared to player one).

Additional embodiments of the bonus participation arrangement includeallowing players on selected EGM gaming platforms that have a lower coinin rate to participate in the cumulative pooled bonus upon allocating anextra wager to participate in the bonus. In the above example, this maybe implemented by requiring player one to place a wager of $1.05 (thatis $1.00 to play the 20 lines at 1 nickel each and $0.05 as a directcontribution to participate in the bonus, or a total of 21 credits).This extra wager would compensate for the increased contribution byplayer two playing at a higher coin in rate.

The bonus participation arrangement may also be based on a differentmeasuring tool than a coin in rate. For example, in some embodiments,game theoretical or estimated win calculations may be used indetermining the bonus participation arrangement. Game theoreticalcalculations include calculated probabilities of the casino's take for aparticular gaming platform, and may vary by type of gaming platform.Estimated win calculations may be based on the amount the player wagersless the amount the player wins. Because estimated win calculations maybe applied more universally than theoretical calculations across gamingplatforms, a bonus participation arrangement based on estimated wincalculations may be more easily scalable to include additional gamingplatforms and even future gaming platforms.

Other measuring tools that may be used alone or in conjunction with themeasuring tools described above may include player demographics, playertracking status, length of time playing a machine, and other playermeasuring tools that are known in the art. In addition, the bonusparticipation arrangement may be preset by the casino, depending, forexample on the type and denomination of EGMs that may be selected, ormay be a dynamic arrangement that is performed in process 145 uponreceiving the data of which EGMs are selected to participate in theBonus Pool. This participation arrangement may further be modifiedduring the length of time that the bonus pool is active to account forEGMs becoming inactive, active, or having wagering patternssignificantly altered during the bonus pool activation time.

The present invention, however, is not limited to these aboveembodiments; rather other participation arrangements that are known inthe art may be implemented without departing from the scope of thepresent invention. Further, the type of participation arrangement may beset by the system manufacturer during the manufacturing or installationprocess. Alternatively, the casino may set the type of participationarrangement. The casino may select a particular type of participationarrangement to be implemented over all future instances of the bonuspromotion or may select the particular type of participation arrangementin setting up each bonus period. In simply gaming networks, theparticipation arrangement may only include acknowledging thecontribution level of each machine.

In a process 150, the user selects the date and the beginning and endingtimes that when the particular bonus pool will run on the associatedEGMs. This information is transmitted to the particular bonus server 44,46 that will be implementing the bonus system. Then, on the appropriatedate at the beginning time, the bonus server 44, 46 implements theparticular bonus pool defined by the flow 100 of FIG. 2. Implementationof the bonus pools of the bonus system will be described with referenceto FIG. 4 below.

Embodiments of the invention include a default master schedulingfunction that allows an authorized user to schedule which individualbonus pools of the bonus system will be active in a particular casino atany given time. For instance, bonus pool “A”, which includes all of theEGMs in a casino, may be scheduled to be in operation between 6:00 amand 7:30 am of a given day. Then, bonus system “B”, which only includesthe EGMs from bank 16, may be scheduled to operate between 4:30 pm and7:00 pm in the afternoon for that day. In more advanced embodiments ofthe bonus scheduling process, a default bonusing schedule can be set up,so that the bonus system schedule above is repeated each weekday. Forexample, bonus pool “A” could be the default to run every weekdaymorning and bonus pool “B” could be the default to run every weekdayafternoon. If no schedule changes were made, the default program wouldbe implemented at the correct time by the bonus server 44, 46 on thegaming network 10. Otherwise, the default program could be overriddenfor a customized schedule. For example, it may be desirable to runanother bonus pool, bonus pool “C”, for a special July 4^(th) bonus thathappened to fall on a weekday.

FIG. 3 shows a sample payout table 200 for a bonus pool. In particular,an information box 210 shows that this is the payout table for the BonusPool A which was defined by a user as described above with reference toFIG. 2.

The payout table 200 includes an index number which is used to indicatewhat amounts are awarded by the bonus pool A. Individual indexes areshown as rows in the table 200. Although there is no theoretical limiton the number of indexes a particular bonus pool may have, there may bepractical limits. The payout table 200 includes positions for nineindexes.

Each individual index is divided into “n” different possibilities ofpayout amounts. There is no limit to the number “n” can be, but in someembodiments, “n” is limited to ten different payout amounts forconvenience. In operation, this means that a particular bonus poolhaving ten payout award amounts can pay up to ten separate bonus awardsover the time the particular bonus pool is running on the EGMs.

Index 0 is defined to have no payouts. Providing this option allows amanager of the bonusing system to easily disable the bonus pool byselecting the index 0. Other indexes have payout amounts, although notall indexes use all “n” payout amounts. For instance, index “1” hasthree payout amounts of $1500, and the remaining payout amounts are each$100. Index “3” only has a single payout amount of $25,000.

Some embodiments of the invention assign the individual awards in agiven bonus pool in the order the amounts are entered into the bonustable 200, while other embodiments assign the individual awardsrandomly. For instance, assume that bonus pool “A” includes tendifferent payout amounts and index “4” is selected. In embodiments thataward the bonus amounts in the order shown in the table 200, the firstnine bonus awards will be for $100 each, with the final bonus award of$25,000. In embodiments that award the bonus amounts randomly, the$25,000 could be any of the ten bonuses awarded by the bonus pool A.

Embodiments of the invention allow complete control of how much totalpayout money is in a particular bonus pool, and how the total payout isdivided into separate awards, if so divided. An authorized user is ableto add, modify and delete indexes specified in the pay table 200, withthe exception of index “0”, which remains with all payout fields of “0”.

Once the bonus pool is set up and scheduled to operate, the bonus server44, 46 that will implement the bonus pool simply waits until the propertime is reached to begin. Before the bonus award time begins, the casinomay use the message screen 28 and or the sound apparatus 26 (FIG. 1)coupled to bank controllers 24 to present audio and video messages toits patrons. Additionally, or in the alternative, each EGM may includeits own audio and video device to present the messages. The messages canbe stored on the bank controller 24 itself, or may be stored inconjunction with the particular bonus pool stored on one of the bonusservers 44, 46. One such message presented at an EGM could be anindication of whether the particular EGM is one of the EGMs eligible towin a bonus award. In other words, an indicator message, such as a lightor lighted bezel allows the player to easily determine if the EGM atwhich they are playing is eligible to win a bonus award.

Once the bonus award period begins, the bonus server 44 or 46 implementsthe bonus system. FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing example processesthat can be used by the bonus server 44, 46. A flow 300 begins at aprocess 310 that determines the number of machines that are both activeand eligible to participate in the bonus award. Recall that not all ofthe EGMs in a gaming network 10 may be selected to participate in thebonus awards, and the list of eligible EGMs is part of the bonus poolsetup. The process 310 determines which of the eligible EGMs are in use.One way to perform this process is to determine when the last time acoin or other monetary value was entered into the EGM. If coins wererecently entered, it is likely that a patron is still playing games onthe EGM, and therefore that EGM would be considered “active”.Additionally, in some embodiments, an EGM would only become active if itwas being played by player using a player tracking card or otheridentifying device discussed above. This may be useful to encourageplayers to enroll in a casino tracking service.

The process 310 could be a continuing process that is operational at alltimes during the bonus period. For instance, a machine that no one isplaying would not be an active game. When a patron begins to play a gameat an EGM, the machine then becomes active. In embodiments where aplayer must be using an identifying device for the EGM to become active,this may this may further encourage players to quickly enroll in acasino tracking service to be eligible for a presently active bonuspool. In some embodiments of the invention, EGMs that are not beingactively played at the beginning of a bonus period can never become anactive game, even if a patron begins playing the EGM. In otherembodiments, an EGM can become active no matter when play begins, evenif the bonus period has already started. These embodiments may allow aplayer to play several different EGMs or even several different types ofEGMs during the course of a bonus period without losing eligibility. Asdescribed above, the EGM may have an indicator, such as an indicatorlight, message on a screen, or a lighted bezel to indicate to the playerwhether the particular EGM is an active game eligible to participate inthe bonus pool.

In some embodiments, the process 310 creates an active game list that isstored on the gaming network 10, for instance on the bonus server 44,46. As players begin playing EGMs or leave EGMs that they have beenplaying, the process 310 actively adds and removes EGMs from the activegame list. This updating can be performed in real time or very near realtime, for example.

In a process 320 the time duration that the bonus pool is to be activeis retrieved from the scheduling record data stored on the bonus server44, 46. Then, in a process 330, the duration is divided into a number ofindividual timeslots. For instance, if the duration of the active bonuspool is one hour, then the process 330 could establish 3600 individualtimeslots, having a duration of one second each.

Then, referring to the number of payout amounts that were defined forthe particular index (FIG. 3) that is currently selected for the activebonus pool, a number of winning timeslots are selected in a process 340.The winning timeslots could be randomly generated or pre-determined. Forinstance, with reference to FIG. 5A, assume, for illustration, thatthere are 30 individual timeslots during which the bonus pool is active.Also assume that index 6 of Bonus Pool A is currently selected, so thereare five payout amounts in the currently selected index. In thisexample, the process 340 could assign winning timeslots evenly, i.e.every six timeslots. Or, with reference to FIG. 5B, the timeslots may beassigned such that there are more winners near the end of the bonus poolduration.

Further, with reference to FIG. 5C, the winning timeslots could berandomly assigned from all of the timeslots. The randomizing processcould occur on the bonus server 44, 46. As true with all randomizingprocesses with more than one selection, a decision must be made whetherto replace a timeslot that was previously selected as a winning timeslotback in the pool of potential winning timeslots. If replacement were notused, then there will be exactly as many winning timeslots as there arebonus prizes awarded. If for instance there were five bonus prizesavailable, then exactly five separate timeslots will be selected aswinning timeslots. If, however, winning timeslots are replaced back intothe pool of potential winning timeslots, then a particular timeslot maybe selected multiple times as a wining timeslot. For instance, withreference to FIG. 5D, assume there are five bonus prizes awarded in thebonus pool. Timeslots 4, 6, 11 and 17 are randomly chosen as winningtimeslots and timeslot 17 is randomly chosen twice as a winningtimeslot. In such an occurrence, one solution would be to award as manybonus prizes as the number of times the timeslot was chosen. Forexample, one bonus prize could be awarded at timeslots 4, 6, and 11, andtwo bonus prizes awarded at timeslot 17. However, an easierimplementation is to limit the number of prizes awarded at any giventimeslot to one, i.e., do not replace timeslots randomly chosen aswinning timeslots back in to the pool of potential winning timeslots.

As shown in the above examples, process 340 may select any of thetimeslots created in process 330 as winning timeslots.

Returning back to FIG. 4, the bonus server 44, 46 then waits for awinning timeslot. A process 350 continues to loop until a winningtimeslot is reached. When a winning timeslot is reached, the payoutamount from the particular index of the active bonus pool is awarded toa random one of the eligible EGMs in a process 360, as is known in theart. In practice, for instance, the process 360 may select a random oneof the EGMs from the “active EGM list”, which, as described above isupdated in realtime. That way the bonus system is relatively sure thatthere is a player actively playing the winning EGM. In one examplesystem, after a winning EGM is selected, the bonus award is notdistributed until after a player starts a new game on the EGM. The startof the game must occur within the selected EGM within a short time, forexample a few seconds, otherwise another EGM is selected as the winningEGM.

There are many ways to actually award the bonus in the process 360, asis known in the art. For instance, the bonus may be sent to the winningEGM in the form of credits placed on the EGM. Or, the bonus server 44could automatically lock the winning EGM and deliver the bonus award ina handpay. Additionally, if the player of the winning EGM is known bythe player server 42 (FIG. 1) by the player of that EGM havingpreviously identified himself or herself, then the player's accountcould be automatically credited without ever placing the credits on theEGM.

The bonus award itself need not be limited to money or credits, butcould be any type of award. For example, a vacation could be awarded toa player, as could merchandise such as a car. Other types of awardscould include complementary services like a free meal or free lodging.

As mentioned above, the payout awards made in the process 360 may bemade in the order they appear in the payout table 200 of FIG. 3, orcould appear in another order, such as a random order. Alternatively,the awards may be sorted by the bonus server 44, 46 prior todistribution. For example, the awards could be made so that the eachsuccessive bonus is larger than the one previous. In a furtherembodiment, the bonus system could present a choice of bonus prizes tothe winner and allow the player to choose a desired bonus, such as bypressing a button or selecting from a list of prizes displayed on atouch screen on the EGM. Such a selection system would not be desirableif the bonus awards were only for cash or credits, as the players wouldalways choose the highest amounts. But, such an embodiment could allowthe winning player to choose between a new car or a free vacation, forexample.

In still other embodiments, the bonus system could present to thewinning player a list of all available bonus prizes remaining in thebonus pool and then randomly select one of the prizes as the player'swinning prize. Therefore, it is possible to implement a bonus systemthat randomly selects a timeslot as a winning timeslot, randomly selectsan EGM as a winning EGM, and randomly selects one of a group ofpre-selected or pre-determined prizes as the bonus awarded to thewinning player.

Finally, a process 370 performs a check to determine if the last paymentamount in a bonus pool has been awarded; if so, then the flow 300 endsand the bonus pool is no longer active.

With regard to FIG. 4, the individual processes 300 need not beperformed in the order set out in the diagram. For instance, the process310, which determined which EGMs were active, may in fact take placedirectly before, or as a part of process 360, which awards the bonuspayment. Additionally, at least some of the processes in the flow 300can be performed prior to the bonus period starting in the casino. Forinstance, once the length of the bonus period and which index is beingused in the assigned bonus pool are known, the bonus server 44, 46 cancalculate the winning timeslots even before the bonus period begins.

Although a sample gaming network has been described herein, the bonusingsystem is operable on different types of systems. One of the benefits tosuch bonusing systems is that they can be scheduled in advance of thebonusing time itself, thus allowing carefully selected parameters anddetails to be designed into the bonusing system. Additionally, becausethe parameters are definable, they can be easily explained to patrons.For example, in embodiments of the invention, it is relatively easy topromote a bonusing system in which $50,000 will be awarded between 1:00pm and 3:00 pm of a given day. This enables a casino to advertise theparticular benefits to the player without causing customer confusion.

Implementation of the bonusing system is straightforward in light of theabove description. As always, implementation details are left to thesystem designer. There are many ways to implement the bonusing system,and the ones described herein are only a few of the many methods thatcan be used. The procedures used for the bonus awards may be implementedin any way, with any components. Inclusion of description orillustration of a function in either the gaming device or the gamingnetwork controller is not dispositive that the function is located in ormust be performed there. The bonusing system works even when not all ofthe elements shown in the gaming network of FIG. 1 are present. Forinstance, in some embodiments of the invention, the bank controllers 24are not strictly necessary, and the system could operate without them.

Thus, although particular embodiments for a bonusing system have beendiscussed, it is not intended that such specific references beconsidered as limitations upon the scope of this invention, but ratherthe scope is determined by the following claims and their equivalents.

1. In a gaming network including a plurality of gaming devices, a method of awarding a bonus prize comprising: selecting at least one gaming device from the plurality of gaming devices to be eligible for the bonus prize; selecting a participation arrangement for the selected gaming device; determining a duration of a time period in which it is possible for the bonus prize to be awarded; dividing the duration into a plurality of timeslots; selecting one of the plurality of timeslots as a winning timeslot during which a pre-determined bonus prize will be made; and awarding the pre-determined bonus prize after the winning timeslot has been reached.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein awarding a pre-determined bonus prize comprises awarding the bonus prize to a player of one of the plurality of gaming devices.
 3. The method claim 1, wherein the plurality of gaming devices includes at least one gaming device from the group comprising a spinning reel slot machine, a video poker machine, a computer based video slot machine, a wireless gaming device, a mobile phone, a remote device connected through the internet, and a gaming table.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein a first plurality of gaming devices is selected from the plurality of gaming devices, the first plurality of gaming devices including at least two different types of gaming devices.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein selecting a participation arrangement for the selected first plurality of gaming devices includes adjusting a contribution level of each of the selected first plurality of gaming devices.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein selecting a participation arrangement for the selected first plurality of gaming devices includes adjusting the probabilities that a particular gaming device will be selected to receive the bonus prize.
 7. The method of claim 4, wherein selecting a participation arrangement for the selected first plurality of gaming devices includes requiring players on a portion of the selected first plurality of gaming devices to adjust an amount wagered on each game.
 8. The method of claim 4, wherein the participation arrangement is calculated based on a coin in rate.
 9. The method of claim 4, wherein the participation arrangement is calculated based on an estimated win calculation.
 10. The method of claim 4, wherein the participation arrangement is at least partly based on at least one of the group comprising player demographics, player tracking status, and length of time playing a gaming device.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the participation arrangement prior to awarding the pre-determined bonus prize.
 12. In a gaming network including a plurality of gaming devices, a method of preparing to award a bonus prize comprising: authorizing a user as one eligible to prepare the bonus prize; accepting a selection of at least one gaming device from the plurality of gaming devices to be eligible for the bonus prize; accepting a participation arrangement for the selected gaming device; accepting a starting time of a bonus prize time period; accepting an ending time of the bonus prize time period; accepting identification of one or more bonus prizes; dividing the bonus prize time period into a number of timeslots; identifying one or more of the number of timeslots as winning timeslots, the number of winning timeslots equal to the number of bonus prizes identified; and awarding one of the bonus prizes after reaching each of the winning timeslots.
 13. The method claim 12, wherein the plurality of gaming devices includes at least one gaming device from the group comprising a spinning reel slot machine, a video poker machine, a computer based video slot machine, a wireless gaming device, a mobile phone, a remote device connected through the internet, and a smart gaming table.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein a first plurality of gaming devices is selected from the plurality of gaming devices, the first plurality of gaming devices including at least two different types of gaming devices.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein accepting a participation arrangement for the selected first plurality of gaming devices includes adjusting a contribution level of each of the selected first plurality of gaming devices.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein accepting a participation arrangement for the selected first plurality of gaming devices includes adjusting the probabilities that a particular gaming device will be selected to receive the bonus prize.
 17. A bonusing system, comprising: a plurality of gaming devices coupled to a gaming network; and a bonus server coupled to the gaming network, the bonus server including: a first selector means for selecting at least one gaming device from the plurality of gaming devices to be eligible for the bonus prize; a second selector means for selecting a participation arrangement for the selected gaming device; a scheduler means for pre-selecting when a bonus pool is to be active, the bonus pool having a pre-determined award value in one or more bonus awards, a-time calculator means for determining the duration in which the bonus pool is to be active; a divider means for dividing the duration into a plurality of timeslots; a third selector means for identifying one of the timeslots as a winning timeslot; and a randomizer means for selecting a winning gaming device from the plurality of gaming devices after the winning timeslot has passed.
 18. The bonusing system of claim 17, wherein the third selector means is structured to randomly select one of the timeslots as a winning timeslot.
 19. The bonusing system of claim 17, further comprising an adjustor means for adjusting the participation arrangement prior to delivering one of the bonus awards to the winning gaming device.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein a second selector means for selecting a participation arrangement for the selected first plurality of gaming devices includes an adjustor means for adjusting a contribution level of each of the selected first plurality of gaming devices.
 21. The method of claim 19, wherein a second selector means for selecting a participation arrangement for the selected first plurality of gaming devices includes an adjustor means for adjusting the probabilities that a particular gaming device will be selected to receive the bonus prize. 